Celebrating our anniversary!
On our anniversary page, you will find everything related to the birthday: exciting facts, milestones and featured voices on our fifth anniversary.
The Green Button turns five!
On September 9, 2019, the government-run certification label Green Button set out to make the textile industry more sustainable. As a result, more than 100 small and large companies have implemented the Green Button's corporate due diligence obligations over the past five years. Together with other labels, the Green Button has raised the bar for production standards in the supply chain and made requirements on issues more demanding. And last but not least: With more than 425 million Green Button textiles, the label has also taken consumers on a journey towards a more sustainable economy and way of life.
Celebrate with us the successes and milestones of the last five years of the Green Button.
Due diligence
The Green Button is the first label that systematically assesses whether companies take responsibility for compliance with human rights and environmental standards in their supply chains - the corporate due diligence processes. The Green Button has shown that companies of all sizes can implement due diligence and that these can be evaluated and certified. This added value was recognised by 27 pioneering companies when the Green Button was piloted. Five years later, over 100 companies have successfully completed the Green Button Standard audits.
The journey of the Green Button: from a supposedly crazy idea to a pioneer in the transformation of the textile industry
In the beginning, the Green Button was still criticised as a supposedly crazy idea. Five years later, the label is considered a pioneer in the transformation of the textile industry. How did the Green Button become a pioneer and what has it actually achieved? To mark the fifth anniversary, the head of the secretariat, the scheme owner, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Development (BMZ) and other supporters of the Green Button take a look at the eventful early days, the lessons learnt and an increasingly changing corporate and legal landscape.
History of the label
Featured voices on our anniversary
WEITBLICK
'The Green Button has a good holistic approach. The certification has enabled us to raise many of our corporate due diligence obligations to a new level, e.g. our grievance mechanisms or a long-term strategy on the topic of living wages. This means we are well prepared for the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains.'
Dibella
'Congratulations, dear Green Button on your fifth anniversary, that is a proud achievement. The Green Button stands for an ambitious certification label. Not only does it set strict demands on environmental and social criteria in the supply chain, but it also takes a close look on these criteria.'
3 Freunde
'What fills me with joy and a little pride is that the Green Button is also the basis of the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains. The fact that we in the textile industry have tried out what is possible and thus laid the foundation for a successful law.'
Meta-label approach
The Green Button has an impact beyond its own label and the textile industry. Through its meta-label approach, the Green Button has recognised 20 trustworthy labels. On the way to recognition (certification), the Green Button has worked with these labels to impose stricter requirements on the labels in areas such as child labour, maternity protection, handling of chemicals and labour law. This benefits workers in over 27,000 factories worldwide, including in India, Bangladesh and Türkiye.
The government-run certification label in numbers
5 years of the Green Button
What went over the counter
Since the introduction of the certification label, a total of over 425 million textiles have been sold with the Green Button.
New standard, new requirements
After the introduction of the new, further developed Green Button standard in August 2022, more than 60 companies have already successfully completed the audits of the stricter standard version.
The Green Button in the head
47% of respondents to a representative study by the market research institute GfK are familiar with the certification label.
A sustainable decision
60% of those who know the certification label have already bought a Green Button certified textile.
Awareness in comparism
The Green Button is in its fifth year at number 3 among the best-known certification labels of approval for clothing.
Yes to the government-run certification label
85% of respondents think it is right for the federal government to use a gonverment-run certification label to check compliance with social and ecological standards in the textile industry.
Source: GfK, Survey 2024
Press materials
Here you will find further information and materials on the anniversary of the Green Button.